Read Online FORGET ME NOT (Mark Kane Mysteries Book One) by John Hemmings - Free Book Online Page B

at a
tangent. I had discovered that it was best at these times to say as
little as possible.
    “So you’ll check about the plane crash?” I
said.
    “We don’t even know where and when the crash
took place.”
    “Idaho,” I said. “In the fall.”
    “Idaho’s a big place,” Lucy said, “and the
fall’s a long season – I’ll have to trawl through hundreds of
newspapers − it’ll take ages. There wasn’t any internet in those
days you know?”
    “I don’t suppose there were that many plane
crashes in the fall of 1989 − even in
Idaho,”
    “Am I to be paid overtime for this?”
    “Lucy, there are vast tracts of the day when
you sit there doing nothing at all. It’ll give you something to do.
You know, help to pass the time. Plus it’ll be an interest for you;
stop you getting bored.”
    “So the answer’s no?”
    “Is this an interrogation?”
    “Don’t answer a question with another
question, counselor.”
    “I’ll be off home then.”
    “There’s no need to dash off. I’m going to
make some popcorn.”
    “Okay, shall we let the Susan matter drop for
the time being? I’m on my break time.”
    We sat eating popcorn, but not before I’d
nipped back to my place for a beer. I even persuaded Lucy to have
one.
    “Doesn’t taste the same without beer, does
it?” I said.
    Lucy was lost in a little world of her
own.
    “I was thinking: do you really need an office
at all?” she said. “I mean why don’t you work from home? Lots of
people do that now; you’d save lots of valuable and potentially
productive time and you’d save on rent, too.”
    A little illuminated light had suddenly
appeared over my head like in cartoons when an obvious truth
suddenly hits home. I should have guessed the popcorn was a prelude
to something else.
    “And what would you do? You’d be out of a
job.” I said.
    “I could work at home too.”
    “Was this plan conceived before or after you
inveigled me into moving almost next door to you?”
    “You mean before I gave you the golden
opportunity of being my neighbor?”
    “I need an office. It creates the right
impression for clients.”
    “You mean the wrong impression,” she
chuckled, “the impression that you can afford a prestigious
address.”
    I had to admit she’d got me that time. I
tried to counter it anyway.
    “We can afford it, we just have to share the
overheads,” I said.
    “I still think my idea’s a good one. I mean
we’re not like a hair salon. We don’t get people walking in off the
street.”
    “As long as I’m paying your wages I’ll make
the decisions.”
    Lucy went into an exaggerated sulk.
    “And now, there being no further matters on
the agenda, I shall take myself off to bed,” I said. And I did.

Chapter Eight
Orchids
    It was Thursday morning as I made my way back
to see Greg Philips in Boylston again. An easterly wind blew the
clouds away so that the sun was shining brightly as I made my way
up the gently curving driveway. As I drove towards the Philips
house I opened the Chevy’s windows in anticipation of the
invigorating scent of freshly mown grass and wasn’t disappointed.
Everything looked exactly the same as before, as if the house and
grounds were enchanted and frozen in time. Even the weather seemed
to have adjusted itself accordingly. I parked on the wide sweep of
the drive in front of the garage and rang the doorbell. Philips
looked as dapper as ever. The cravat was back in favor today,
complimented by a shirt of cerulean blue. His white hair
accentuated the slight tan on his face. He looked happy to see
me.
    “Come in Kane, I think you’ll be pleased.
I’ve managed to find some hair samples. Please, come through to the
living room and take a seat. I’ve got some coffee brewing and I’ll
be with you in two ticks.”
    I walked through to the living room, noticing
for the first time that I was leaving footprints in the pile of the
living room carpet. There was a florid scent in the air. I went
over to the